IVAN TONEY scores! And an hour or so later despicable drivel-scribblers of whom a fair number populate social media are busy sending the Brentford striker some very nasty messages indeed.
This is par for the course for the 26-year-old who has clambered through eight clubs before landing at the Bees where he has scored 57 goals in 98 games.
In a wholly respectful society his record would be nationally embraced and yet it isn’t. And why? Because he’s black — and racism is a disgusting social disease.
But hold on. This may be substantially true, although not entirely in football.
Harry Kane is not black and yet the Spurs striker headed a list of verbally abused players in England’s World Cup squad in Qatar. And that was before he missed the penalty against France.
After that his phone and laptop must have squealed for mercy.
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So these social abusers appear to enjoy three football targets most — a failing on the pitch, vengeance and black players.
Toney was guilty of scoring the goal that led to Brentford’s away draw against Premier League leaders Arsenal, possibly a turning point in the race for the title.
I can understand why Gunners fans were enraged at the eye-boggling VAR error in missing a clear offside that instantly led to Toney’s headed goal but, innocent chap Toney, was only doing his job.
For what might be called a late-starter, the Cobbler wasn’t really successful until a spell at Peterborough that led to him being sold to Brentford for £5million — rising to £10m.
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Now he’s an England international. A story of try, try and try again, which should be admired and yet abuse continues to roll in.
A man from North Shields has already been charged with sending him a hate message in October.
Now Brentford are determined to chase down another keyboard crackpot, as they should.
It’s hard to believe that even at the group stage in Qatar, no fewer than 1,546 tweets of abuse were received by England’s team, 205 of them concerning race, gender or sexuality.
The little bit of good news was the number is drastically down on the 2020 Euros, where there was 3,000 alone in the hours that followed the three missed penalties in the final against Italy.
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook say they have introduced plans to delete the hate mail around football but their achievement rate is only one-star at best. It should be a five-star priority.
A new government Bill, if passed by April, is designed to protect kids but not really adults.
But every generation should be protected because some of the filth, curses and threats I am only too aware of have no place in any society.
These offences should be regarded as criminal aggravation and top footballers, their families too, are major victims.
Racial comments made among match-day crowds are not acceptable either although the two Erics, Dier and Cantona had a simple way of dealing with them.
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So angered by remarks they jumped into the terraces to sort out offenders. Cantona actually aimed a kick at one of them — not wholly to be recommended.
Nevertheless, Kick it Out is a great anti-discrimination campaign and clubs should be admired for sticking with it.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
